Chester River Hospital Center
Vascular Lab is Accredited

Chester River Hospital Center's non-invasive vascular laboratory is among the first one thousand laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to be granted accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL). The lab was accredited in the areas of peripheral arterial testing, peripheral venous testing and extracranical cerebrovascular testing.

The accreditation status signifies that the laboratory is committed to quality testing for the diagnosis of vascular disease. Participation in the accreditation process demonstrates the laboratory's concern for high quality patient care and attention to quality assurance.

Gerard S. O'Connor, M.D., is the certified medical director of the local lab and is assisted by John Lacoco, a certified vascular technician. Patients are evaluated for carotid disease, peripheral arterial disease and venous disease.

The ICAVL is a non-profit organization established with the support of ten medical societies to provide a mechanism for accrediting facilities which perform comprehensive testing for vascular disease with noninvasive testing modalities. The ten sponsoring societies represent the medical specialties of radiology, ultrasonography, vascular surgery, neurology, cardiology, neurosurgery and internal medicine.

Cardiovascular disease, or disorders of the heart and blood vessels, is the leading cause of death in the United States. Stroke, a disorder of the blood vessels to the brain, is the third leading cause of death and disability in this country; over 500,000 new strokes occur annually.

Each year, two million people in this country develop deep vein thrombosis-blood clots in the veins. The affliction becomes life threatening for a quarter of these people when the blood breaks loose and travels to their lungs. With early detection through the use of noninvasive vascular testing, this disease can be prevented.

Although life threatening if undetected, early detection of these vascular diseases is possible through the use of noninvasive vascular testing techniques performed within vascular laboratories when ordered by a physician.

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